Mount Everest summit was within sight. Why did University of Cincinnati grad stop?

Big mountain climber Adrian Ballinger guides novice climbers to the tallest peaks in the world and has summited Everest eight times in eleven attempts. He says athletic ability alone won't guarantee success.
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Mount Everest traffic jam

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This handout photo taken on May 22, 2019 and released by climber Nirmal Purja's Project Possible expedition shows heavy traffic of mountain climbers lining up to stand at the summit of Mount Everest. Many teams had to line up for hours on May 22 to reach the summit, risking frostbites and altitude sickness, as a rush of climbers marked one of the busiest days on the world's highest mountain. HANDOUT, AFP/Getty Images

This April 2019 selfie photo provided by Mark Kulish shows his brother Christopher Kulish beneath Mount Everest. Christopher Kulish, a Colorado climber, died shortly after getting to the top of Mount Everest and achieving his dream of scaling the highest peaks on each of the seven continents, his brother said on May 27, 2019. Christopher Kulish, AP

Mount Everest (height 8848 metres) is seen in the Everest region, some 140 km northeast of Kathmandu, on May 27, 2019. Ten people have died in little more than two weeks after poor weather cut the climbing window, leaving mountaineers waiting in long queues to the summit, risking exhaustion and running out of oxygen. PRAKASH MATHEMA, AFP/Getty Images

Indian Everest climber Ameesha Chauhan dips her fingers in a warm solution at a hospital in Kathmandu on May 27, 2019. Ameesha Chauhan, a survivor of the Everest "traffic jam" who is in hospital recovering from frostbite, said climbers without basic skills should be barred to prevent a recurrence of this year's deadly season on the world's highest peak. GOPEN RAI, AFP/Getty Images

A Summit Air Let L-410 Turbolet aircraft bound for Kathmandu is seen after it hit two helicopters during take off at Lukla airport, the main gateway to the Everest region. A small plane veered off the runway and hit two helicopters while taking off near Mount Everest on April 14, 2019 killing three people and injuring three, officials said. AFP/Getty Images

Eric Murphy, a mountain guide from Bellingham, Wash. poses for a photograph in Kathmandu, Nepal, May 28, 2019. “Every minute counts there,” said Murphy, who climbed Everest for a third time on May 23. He said what should have taken 12 hours took 17 hours because of struggling climbers who were clearly exhausted but had no one to guide or help them. Seasoned mountaineers say the Nepal government’s failure to limit the number of climbers on Mount Everest has resulted in dangerous overcrowding and a greater number of deaths. Niranjan Shrestha, AP

Nepalese trekking staff and policemen shift the dead bodies of climbers at the helipad of Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, May 23, 2019. Four unidentified dead bodies of Everest climbers, who have died in their Everest summit on previous years, have been found during the Mount Everest cleaning campaign 2019. It is estimated that over 300 bodies of climbers are still entombed in ice on Mount Everest, according to the media report. The cleaning campaign is jointly organized by the government of Nepal and non-government agencies to collect the dead bodies and the rubbish left behind by the climbers. NARENDRA SHRESTHA, EPA-EFE

his handout photo taken on May 16, 2019 and released by Summits with a Purpose shows South African climber Saray Khumalo posing at the top of Mount Everest after her summit, becoming the first black African woman achieving the feat. - The business executive who became the first black African woman to climb Mount Everest said on May 22 that knowing her climb would be in the record books helped her push on to the top. HANDOUT/SUMMITS WITH A PURPOSE via AFP/Getty Images

South African climber Saray Khumalo speaks to AFP in an interview in Kathmandu on May 23, 2019, after her record breaking climb to be the first black African woman to summit Everest. BIKASH KARKI, AFP/Getty Images

Nepalese veteran mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa (C), waves as he stands between his wife and son after arriving at Kathmandu Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, May 25, 2019. Kami Rita, a professional mountaineer guide has successfully climbed Mount Everest 24 times setting a new world record for climbing Mount Everest. NARENDRA SHRESTHA, EPA-EFE

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Circumstances seemingly conspired against the local adventurer. The climb to Camp 4 took longer than expected, zapping Brennan's energy. A much-needed rest day was eliminated when a forecasted storm forced summit day to be moved from May 24 to May 23. Then there was the line.

At midnight Brennan and his team made their final push for the summit. Ahead of them, they could see a steady line of climbers, their silhouettes illuminated by headlamps. The mountain was crowded. The congestion worsened as night turned to day and ascending and descending climbers met.

Eight hours after leaving Camp 4, Brennan and his team should have been about one hour from the summit. That wasn’t the case. The team was still four to five hours from the top of the world.

University of Cincinnati graduate Matt Brennan on a steep slope of Mount Everest.(Photo: Matt Brennan/Provided)

The difficult choice

Despite the long delays, cramping in his legs, and the loss of a spare oxygen tank, Brennan remained confident that he could summit the mountain, he said Tuesday from his home in Miami Township, near Loveland. However, he was uncertain he could safely return.

"It’s one thing to get to the top, but it's another thing trying to get down to your tent," Brennan said. "That’s where people die. They don’t die from falling. They don’t die from getting to the top or some rock hits them in the head. People die on that mountain from exhaustion.

"They sit down because they’re exhausted, to rest and relax and they run out of oxygen and they never get up again. It’s not a violent death. It’s a very peaceful death."

With a wife, children and a business, not making it safely back down Everest was not an option, he said.

After several moments of honest self-reflection, Brennan said he made the difficult decision to end his push for the summit.

“I was within 1,000 feet of the top of the world. I spent 60 days in a tent. I’d spent tens of thousands of dollars. I’ve trained. I had all these people supporting me. It was defeating,” he said about that moment and the decision.

The factors of weather, lines, and age were all against him, he said.

“When I stacked all that together, I said to myself, ‘You know what, I’m not going to risk it.’ It wasn’t worth the risk. And it hurt to make the decision. Because everybody on the team summited but they summited outside all the rules,” Brennan said.

Brennan's wife: supportive but . . .

Back home his wife, Susan, and daughter Madeline, 20, were in bed anxiously watching Brennan’s Garmin signal tracking his progress in the mountain’s death zone. Her sons from a previous marriage were watching and texting. The couple’s youngest son, Blake, 19, who is severely autistic, rested.

They saw his signal make a turn and go back down the mountain. They had no idea why.

Susan Brennan is not the kind of person who enjoys public attention. In fact, she avoids it. However, she is a strong supporter of her husband’s adventures.

“Of course, I’m rooting for him,” she said. “I want it for him more than anything in the world. Do I like him going? No. But for him, I want him to be successful.”

He’s been climbing since Madeline and Blake were babies. Madeline has been on climbs with her father.

Brennan has successfully summited dozens of mountains. He's summited the highest mountains on five continents. His goal is to reach seven. Susan Brennan has been supportive throughout and recalls only one concerning episode over the years on Mount Rainier.

It was his first big climb, she recalled. The mountaineering company he used called to say there had been an accident but that Matt was OK, she said. However, he was tethered to the side of the mountain as a helicopter attempted a rescue.

“They called to say if you’re watching CNN, you’re going to see this and we wanted you to know Matt’s OK. My heart did stop on that one. But that was the first one,” Susan Brennan said. “Since that, I’ve been through a lot. And I know he knows his limitations, and he’s not going to do anything on purpose that is going to cause him harm. I mean, there are always accidents."

Mount Everest 2019: Long lines and trash notable

A lot has been said over the years about Mount Everest, the trash and dead bodies, and this climbing season, Brennan said. Much of it is wrong. He wants to set the record straight.

The long lines in the 2019 climbing season: It was not a permit problem, a typical number was issued by the Nepalese government, but a weather problem that contributed to the long lines seen in photographs, he said.

Trash on the mountain: It’s not as bad as it’s portrayed, Brennan said. Camp 1 and Camp 3 are clean. There’s a little garbage at Camp 2. Camp 4 has a trash problem, he said. They’re having problems getting people who will go up there and haul trash from the death zone.

Dead bodies: There are a couple of dead bodies up there that, for one reason or another, can not be removed, Brennan said. Most, however, are recovered and brought back down the mountain.

Will there be a third attempt?

The decision to abort his climb short of the summit wasn't the hardest decision of Brennan's life. It was the most emotional.

"I was lucky that I still had my faculties enough, that I wasn't too high into it that I wasn't thinking," he said.

That wasn't the case for one climber he encountered. Brennan said people told her to turn around before it was too late. She didn't listen and died on the mountain.

While disappointed in the way things turned out, Brennan identified his decision to end his summit day early as the most enriching part of his journey.

"I had the ability to make the tough decision when I needed to," he said.

He's working with his trainer to understand what caused his body to slow down on the climb to Camp 4. He's also considering his options.

When he first returned from Nepal, he told his wife he was done with the big mountains. Now, he's not so certain. He might go back to Everest, he said, but under different circumstances.

While he's disappointed, his wife said his family and friends are celebrating his success and return.